The Obligated Self Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought [Hardcover]

Mara H. Benjamin contends that the physical and psychological work of caring for children presents theologically fruitful but largely unexplored terrain for feminists. Attending to the constant, concrete, and urgent needs of children, she argues, necessitates engaging with profound questions concerning the responsible use of power in unequal relationships, the transformative influence of love, human fragility and vulnerability, and the embeddedness of self in relationships and obligations. Viewing child-rearing as an embodied practice, Benjamins theological reflection invites a profound reengagement with Jewish sources from the Talmud to modern Jewish philosophy. Her contemporary feminist stance forges a convergence between Jewish theological anthropology and the demands of parental caregiving.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I

Chapter 1: Obligation

Chapter 2: Love

Chapter 3: Power

Chapter 4: Teaching

Part II

Chapter 5: The Other

Chapter 6: The Third

Chapter 7: The Neighbor

Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

Mara H. Benjamin is Irene Kaplan Leiwant Associate Professor and Chair of Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College. She is author ofRosenzweigs Bible: Reinventing Scripture for Jewish Modernity.

A richly imagined work that brilliantly captures the complexity and contradictions of the experience of parenting and then uses that experience to shed light on the nature of God and multiple neglected aspects of Jewish tradition. Few readers will come away from this book without being stimulated, challenged and enlarged by it.

One of the most creative projects in Jewish feminist thought in a long while. Benjamin turns a feminist examination of maternal subjectivity into a critical lCÁ